Then on top of this, I’d still love to get my submission ready for NYMF (New York Musical Festival). And I obviously want to keep working out! If possible, I’d really love to take Intermediate, since I have no idea when I’ll be back at The Groundlings – and I’d love to move forward (if I can).

Plus, you know, I am gonna have all this homework at BMI. And I’ll still need to sleep sometimes… So, when I take all of that into account, it feel like I’m not gonna have any time to do anything (or see anyone – which is why I’m trying to convince people to see me earlier rather than later, no matter how silly they think that is (Come on, people! :-P)).

And that’s why I’m feeling so brain-full – like my brain is just full and popping at the seems.

And that’s why I have a fantasy that people take all the travel and LA sightseeing decisions away from me so it’s just happening. and I know I’m getting back and forth to New York, and I know I’m gonna utilize LA, but I don’t have to plan or worry about any of it.

But alas, I am not at assistant-point in my life (though someday I could be!…. Someday’s not today.)

Also, since we’re already on brain-full stuff, let’s talk about stuff that really doesn’t need to be in my brain, but has passed through there.

As insanely wonderful as it is though to be in the workshop, now there’s a whole new set of pressures within it. You want to try to win the prize for best 10-minute musical at the end of the first year. You certainly want to get invited to Advanced Lab.

I also started to have doubts about how I applied. Now when I give the news, some people ask, “lyricist or composer”? My acceptance letter also mentions specifically, “we’d like to invite you as a lyricist.”

And that’s fine because that’s what I’ll be in this workshop… But I guess I didn’t really think about how it would really become a label of mine. Like, I have no idea if Robert Lopez was a composer or lyricist. Same with Jeff Marx, Jason Michael Snow, or practically anybody else. The only reason I know Kristen Anderson-Lopez was a lyricist is because I heard her talk about it on a podcast.

So, I just didn’t know it was such a defining thing, fairly often asked about.

And as silly as it is, it just makes me think, “Am I going to be viewed as less of a musician now that I’m ‘just a lyricist?'”

At this point I’m in my own head and would never want to ruin something so beautiful as the feeling of getting into BMI. I guess we’ll just see when I get in there if there are like the “cool-kid-composers” and then us nerds… [Spoiler alert: Yeah, kind of! But not to the extent I was worried about…]